Florida Tomato Pickers Sign Up New Major Retail Chains For Higher Wagesby Fatima Hansia, CorpWatch BlogMarch 10th, 2015The Fresh Market, a major U.S. retail chain, recently joined the Coalition of Immokalee Workers’ Fair Food Program, adding another victory in the battle for humane working conditions for tomato pickers in Florida’s $650 million industry. Thirteen companies including Burger King, McDonald's and Walmart have signed up so far.

Bangladeshi Tribals Evicted For Tea Plantation Expansionby Pratap Chatterjee, CorpWatch BlogMarch 6th, 2015Syed Tea and Land, a Bangladeshi company, has been accused of using armed men to evict ethnic minority communities in order to expand a tea plantation in Sreemangal in northeastern Bangladesh. The expansion will impact Kandas, Khasis and Tantis who have lived in the area for a century.

European Supermarkets Defend Low Wages To Moroccan Tomato Pickersby Mayu Chang, CorpWatch BlogNovember 12th, 2014Tomato pickers in Morocco – who supply fresh produce during the winter to big European supermarket chains like Albert Heijn in the Netherlands and Sainsbury’s and Tesco in the UK – are paid poverty wages, according to a new report from Fairfood International.

Indian Rose Exporter Declares Bankruptcy in the Netherlandsby Pratap Chatterjee, CorpWatch BlogOctober 2nd, 2014A subsidiary of Karaturi Global, the Indian flower export multinational accused of land grabbing in Ethiopia and Kenya, has been declared bankrupt by a Dutch court. The company owes some $300,000 in the Netherlands, as well as upwards of $4 million in taxes in Kenya.

Migrant Rights Activist Fights Thai Pineapple Company Lawsuitby Pratap ChatterjeeSeptember 12th, 2014Natural Fruit, one of Thailand’s largest pineapple processors, has sued Andy Hall, a British researcher, over a report that he worked on for Finnwatch on labor abuses in the industry. Hall faces some seven years in jail and $10 million in fines.

Fast Food Workers Hold Biggest Ever Strike For Wages in U.S.by Pratap Chatterjee, CorpWatch BlogSeptember 5th, 2014Hundreds of low wage fast food workers were arrested at strikes and protests in some 100 cities around the U.S. on September 4. They were demanding that companies like Burger King, KFC, McDonald's and Wendy's pay workers a living wage of $15 an hour.

Papua New Guinea Landowners Win Lands Back From Malaysian Palm Oil Plantationby Fatima Hansia, CorpWatch BlogJune 16th, 2014A Papua New Guinea (PNG) court revoked two 99 year land titles awarded to Kuala Lumpur Kepong (KLK) of Malaysia to develop palm oil plantations on 38,350 hectares of land in Collingwood Bay in Oro province following complaints of land grabbing by customary landowners.

World Bank Agrees to Investigate Labor Conditions at Indian Tea Companyby Pratap Chatterjee, CorpWatch BlogFebruary 21st, 2014The World Bank has agreed to investigate Amalgamated Plantations Private Limited (APPL) in India for abusive working conditions on tea plantations in the north-eastern Indian state of Assam, following a formal complaint by workers. A Columbia Law School team has confirmed the workers allegations.

Mauritanian Villagers Protest Saudi National Prawn Company Investmentby Richard Smallteacher, CorpWatch BlogFebruary 5th, 2014Villagers in Boghé, a community 190 miles south west of the Mauritanian capital of Nouakchott, are protesting a proposed $1 billion investment by the Saudi National Prawn Company (NPC) in an aquaculture project in the Senegal river valley that will cover 31,000 hectares.

World Bank Slammed for Dinant Loan Linked to Honduran Killings by Pratap Chatterjee, CorpWatch BlogJanuary 14th, 2014An independent ombudsman has confirmed that World Bank officials should have raised serious questions before the International Finance Corporation (IFC) – the private sector arm of the World Bank – approved a $30 million loan to Corporación Dinant in Honduras in 2009 for palm oil plantation projects.

Chocolate Slavery Case Against Nestlé Allowed to Proceedby Pratap Chatterjee, CorpWatch BlogDecember 24th, 2013Eight years after they sued Archer Daniels Midland (ADM), Cargill and Nestlé for allegedly forcing them to work as child labor on a Côte d'Ivoire cocoa plantation, three young men from Mali have won a small victory – the ability to be heard in a California court.

Police Attack Palm Oil Protestors in Sierra Leoneby Richard Smallteacher, CorpWatch BlogDecember 10th, 2013Sierra Leone police opened fire on a group of protestors who were demonstrating against a palm oil plantation in the southern province of Pujehun. The project is being developed by Societe Financiere des Caoutchoucs (Socfin), a French agri-business giant.

Canada Approves Genetically Modified Salmon Exports to Panama
by Pratap Chatterjee, CorpWatch BlogNovember 25th, 2013AquaBounty, a U.S. biotechnology company based in Maryland, has secured approval from the Canadian government to export 100,000 AquAdvantage salmon eggs from Prince Edward Island in eastern Canada to Chiriquí province in western Panama.

Potash Cartel Causes Friction Between Russia and Belarus
by Richard Smallteacher, CorpWatch BlogNovember 21st, 2013A clash between Belaruskali and Uralkali – the global potash exporters from Belarus and Russia respectively – almost destroyed a global cartel that has artificially kept prices of fertilizer as high as $400 a ton in international markets.

Del Monte Plantation Workers Win Settlement in Global Horizons Caseby Pratap Chatterjee, CorpWatch BlogNovember 18th, 2013Some 150 Thai workers on a Del Monte pineapple plantation in Hawaii will get $1.2 million to settle allegations of sub-standard working conditions. The lawsuit was filed by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission against seven companies including Global Horizons, a labor recruiter from Los Angeles.

Flower Growers in Kenya Strike Against Karuturi Globalby Pratap ChatterjeeOctober 10th, 2013Flower growers in Kenya have gone on strike to protest unpaid wages from Karuturi Global, the Indian flower export multinational. The strike is the latest in a series of problems that have caused the company share price to plummet from over Rs39 in 2008 to Rs0.63 in mid-September 2013.

New Zealand Dairy Exporter Admits Third Contamination Scandalby Richard Smallteacher, CorpWatch BlogAugust 5th, 2013Fonterra, a New Zealand company and the world’s largest dairy exporter, has apologized for exporting a milk formula ingredient contaminated with potentially toxic bacteria. The incident comes six years after a company subsidiary in China sold contaminated baby milk formula that killed six infants and made thousands more ill.

Ethiopian Sugar Alleged to Destroy Pastoral Communities of Lower Omoby Richard Smallteacher, CorpWatch BlogJuly 18th, 2013Ethiopian Sugar Corporation is benefiting from forced resettlement of pastoral people in the Lower Omo Valley - a United Nations cultural heritage site - to make way for new sugar plantations and factories, according to a new report from the Oakland Institute.

Cargill Flouts Law to Secretly Build Land Bank in Colombiaby Richard Smallteacher, CorpWatch BlogJuly 13th, 2013Cargill, the world’s largest food company, has been secretly amassing land from small farmers in eastern Colombia, despite a law prohibiting the practice. When the two countries signed a free trade agreement last year, Cargill emerged as the owner of 52,574 hectares where it grows corn and soybeans.

Monsanto Refuses to Testify at Seed Hearing in Puerto Ricoby Carmelo Ruiz-Marrero, CorpWatch BlogJune 20th, 2013Monsanto has refused to testify at a major government hearing about the development and sale of seeds in Puerto Rico. At stake is the research that the company conducts into genetic engineering on the island that critics say threaten the environment and can cause serious human health problems.

Ukraine Egg King Global Plans Fail North Carolina Farmersby Puck Lo, CorpWatch BlogMay 10th, 2013Farmers in North Carolina are regretting the day that they put their trust in the Egg King - Oleg Bakhmatyuk – a billionaire agricultural investor from the Ukraine. Over 100 farmers are suing a subsidiary of his global empire for almost $10 million for reneging on chicken sales contracts.

Mehadrin "Jaffa" Oranges May Come from Occupied Palestinian Landby Puck Lo, CorpWatch BlogApril 4th, 2013Jaffa oranges sold in European supermarkets labeled "Made in Israel" may have been grown and packaged in the occupied Palestinian West Bank, according to a report from the Boycott Divest Sanction (BDS) movement, an international coalition of Palestinian NGOs and activists.

Monsanto Bullies Small Farmers Over Planting Harvested GMO Seedsby Puck Lo, CorpWatch BlogMarch 24th, 2013Does Monsanto own all future generations of genetically modified seeds that it sells? The Missouri-based agribusiness giant wants farmers to pay a royalty to plant any seed that descended from a patented original. The legal decision has ramifications for other patented "inventions" that reproduce themselves like strands of DNA.

Sierra Leone Farmers Evicted for Sugarcane Biofuel Plantationsby Jennifer Kennedy, CorpWatch BlogMarch 5th, 2013Addax Bioenergy, a Swiss energy company, is jeopardizing the livelihoods of thousands of subsistence farmers in order to export ethanol made from sugarcane grown in Sierra Leone, according to the Sierra Leone Network on the Right to Food and Brot Für Alle, an NGO based in Switzerland.

Sweet Nothing: UK Food Giant Avoids Taxes on Zambia Sugarby Pratap Chatterjee, CorpWatch BlogFebruary 15th, 2013Associated British Foods (ABF), a UK company that makes Silver Spoon sugar, pays almost no taxes on its profitable Zambian sugar subsidiary, according to a new ActionAid report. The authors allege ABF has avoided estimated taxes of $27 million since 2007, enough to put 48,000 Zambian children in school.

Nestlé Found Guilty of Spying on Swiss Activistsby Pratap Chatterjee, CorpWatch BlogJanuary 30th, 2013Nestlé, the world’s largest food company, has been found guilty of spying on Swiss activists in 2003 with the help of Securitas, a private security company. Jean-Luc Genillard, president of the Lausanne civil court, told the two companies to pay $3,267.55 to each of nine victims.

Argentine Farm Sales Raise Questions of Land Speculation By Sorosby Pratap Chatterjee, CorpWatch BlogJanuary 15th, 2013Hedge fund billionaire George Soros is making a killing buying and selling farmland in South America after converting them to biofuel production. While this has caused the land prices to increase dramatically, the ecological impact is questionable.

Agribusiness Buys California Votesby Pratap Chatterjee, CorpWatch BlogNovember 6th, 2012Big corporations bankrolled candidates for the 2012 elections in both the Democratic and Republican parties and bought their votes lock, stock and barrel, contributing over $2 billion out of the $6 billion spent this year. The biggest impact was on a California battle to require labeling of genetically altered products.

Starbucks: Espresso for Investors, Watery Americano in UK Taxesby Pratap Chatterjee, CorpWatch BlogOctober 26th, 2012Starbucks, the Seattle-based international coffee chain, has been accused of tax avoidance in the UK. Between 1998 and 2011 the company has made £3 billion in sales but paid out just £8.6 million in taxes on sales from its 735 stores in the country.

Cambodian Activists Call for International Sugar Boycottby Puck Lo, CorpWatch BlogSeptember 11th, 2012Human rights monitoring groups and Cambodian activists are calling for an international boycott of Tate & Lyle and Domino Sugar, who do business with sugar suppliers accused of participating in government-sanctioned land grabs and illegal evictions throughout rural Cambodia.

Iowa Company Linked to Refugee Abuses In Tanzaniaby Pratap Chatterjee, CorpWatch BlogJuly 10th, 2012AgriSol, an Iowa company, has been linked to plans to evict 160,000 Burundian refugees from Katumba and Mishamo in western Tanzania, according to “Lives on Hold,” a new report by the Oakland Institute.

Monsanto Faces $7.5 Billion Payout to Brazilian Farmersby Carmelo Ruiz-Marrero, CorpWatch BlogJune 28th, 2012Monsanto, the largest seed corporation in the world, has long dealt out severe legal sanctions against farmers it suspects of "pirating" its seed. Now farmers in Brazil have turned the tables on the company which may have to pay out $7.5 billion.

Beef from Brazil: JBS Faces Allegations of Amazon Deforestationby Pratap Chatterjee, CorpWatch BlogJune 6th, 2012The Xavante tribe in western Brazil and the Parakana tribe in the north-east are separated by a thousand miles of the Amazon basin but they face a common threat: the sprawling global beef export empire controlled by the Batista family from the state of Goiás.

Coffee Colonialism: Olam Plantation Displaces Lao Farmersby Beaumont Smith, Special to CorpWatchJune 4th, 2012Olam International, a Singapore based multinational, is growing coffee for export in Paksong, southern Laos. The land for the plantation was seized by Sonesay Siphandone, the district governor, from the upland Nha Huen/Yahern community who have been left without food to eat.

Budweiser's Buddies in Brusselsby Pratap Chatterjee, CorpWatch BlogMay 16th, 2012Jean-Luc Dehaene, a Member of the European Parliament from Belgium, recently accepted shares worth $4.2 million in the company that makes Budweiser and Stella Artois. What’s remarkable is that he forgot to mention this as a potential conflict of interest.

Middle Eastern Investors “Grab” Sudan Farmlandby Pratap Chatterjee, CorpWatch BlogApril 30th, 2012Dalla Al Baraka, a major Saudi conglomerate, has acquired two million acres of farmland in eastern Sudan, to produce food for export. While the investors are hoping to wean Saudi Arabia off imports from South America, such agreements have also caused concern among local Sudanese farmers.

Lobbyists Pose Conflicts of Interest At European Food Agency by Pratap Chatterjee, CorpWatch BlogApril 19th, 2012Should lobbyists for biotech and food companies make the rules on what kind of food you have in your kitchen? Meet Mella Frewen, Suzy Renckens and Harry Kuiper: Three examples of how the industries take advantage of the European Food Safety Agency(EFSA) failure to properly regulate conflicts of interest.

Greenwashing Walmart
by Pratap Chatterjee, CorpWatch BlogApril 18th, 2012Is Walmart going green? Mike Duke, the company’s CEO, says in a new 126 page report that the company is becoming more sustainable and responsible while “building meaningful, long-term change.” Activists disagree. Walmart’s “environmental impact has only grown over the last seven years” they say in a counter-report.

Chiquita Banana To Face Colombia Torture Claimby Pratap Chatterjee, CorpWatch BlogMarch 30th, 2012Chiquita, the global banana producer, was ordered to face a federal court over their role in paying off right wing death squads in Colombia that are alleged to have used “random and targeted violence” against villagers in exchange for financial assistance and access to Chiquita’s private port.

Unsticking Food Lobbyists in Europeby Pratap Chatterjee, CorpWatch BlogMarch 6th, 2012The European Food Safety Authority has approved new rules that will ban industry experts from serving on EFSA scientific panels related to their work. Corporate Europe Observatory says the rules are still not strong enough

Thorny Business: Ethiopian Rose Exports To Europeby Pratap Chatterjee, CorpWatch BlogMarch 5th, 2012Karuturi Global and Saudi Star have leased thousands of hectares of land from the Ethiopian government for agricultural development. Critics says these projects have displaced traditional farmers and subsistence crops.

ADM's New Frontiers: Palm Oil Deforestation and Child Labor
by Charlie Cray, Special to CorpWatchMay 18th, 2010ADM has moved beyond the days of blatant price-fixing that landed its top execs behind bars. But the company's forays into new global agricultural markets bring charges of complicity in forced child labor and rampant deforestation. Critics assert that the conglomerate's embrace of self- regulation and voluntary guidelines is but a cynical ploy to deter effective reform.

Titanium or Water? Trouble brews in Southern Indiaby Nityanand Jayaraman, Special to CorpWatch October 24th, 2007Tata, India's largest conglomerate, wants to take 10,000 acres of land to mine ilmenite in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu. The plan has sparked protests by local villagers who say the project will destroy their traditional way of life and the environment.

Trademarking Coffee: Starbucks cuts Ethiopia dealby Anton Foek, Special to CorpWatchMay 8th, 2007Starbucks, the world's largest coffee shop chain, and the Ethiopian government are on the verge of unveiling a deal that the company hopes will end attacks on the company's carefully constructed ethical image.

Green Fuel's Dirty Secretby Sasha Lilley, Special to CorpWatchJune 1st, 2006Ethanol made from corn has been touted as the "green fuel" of the future. Archer Daniels Midland, the largest U.S. producer of ethanol, stands to make a fortune from environmentally conscious car drivers. But is ethanol really as environmentally clean as it is hyped to be?
Listen to an interview with Sasha Lilley on CorpWatch Radio.

Australia Reaps Iraqi Harvestby Marc Moncrief, Special to CorpWatchApril 4th, 2006United Nations sanctions against Saddam Hussein may have failed to end his regime but they succeeded in enriching both the Iraqi dictator and corporations able to manipulate the scandal-ridden world body's Oil-for-Food program. Among the profiteers was the Australian Wheat Board, a former state-owned monopoly, which funneled over $200 million into Saddam's coffers even as the “Coalition of the Willing” was preparing for invasion.

Some Strings Attached: Cotton, Farm subsidies tie up global trade talksby Pratap Chatterjee, Special to CorpWatchDecember 13th, 2005West African cotton farmers are among those hardest hit by government subsidized corporate agriculture. This week in Hong Kong, trade ministers from the 148 members of the World Trade Organization meet to discusss this and other global free trade issues.

The Cows Have Come Homeby Diane Farsetta, Special to CorpWatchSeptember 1st, 2005After fighting mad cow safeguards, the US beef industry complains about the consequences - a multi-billion dollar decline in exports - and a shortage of imported beef because of inadequate domestic testing and labeling.

Playing Chicken: Ghana vs. the IMFby Linus Atarah, Special to CorpWatchJune 14th, 2005Thanks to the IMF and the World Bank, chicken and other local agriculture staples in Ghana are being replaced by subsidized foreign imports.

Meat Packer's Union on the Chopping Blockby Sasha Lilley, Special to CorpWatchApril 18th, 2005Today's meat packing industry relies increasingly on high-speed, treacherous disassembly lines. Perhaps that's why Tyson Foods, Inc. -- a giant in a flourishing industry -- is working to take apart a union that prioritizes safety over speed.

Food Giants on the Runby Michele Simon, Special to CorpWatchMarch 21st, 2005The food industry is working with politicians across the United States to rewrite laws in order to shield themselves from lawsuits based on obesity and related health problems.

Paving the Amazon with Soy
by Sasha Lilley, Special to CorpWatchDecember 16th, 2004Soy rules the central Brazilian state of Mato Grosso and it's not the soy that much of the world associates with the ostensibly eco-friendly, vegetarian diet, either. With help from the World Bank, André Maggi (the Soy King) is bankrolling the destruction of one of the world's most biodiverse ecosystems: the savanna.

Dynamite in the Center of Townby Joshua Karliner, Special to CorpWatchDecember 2nd, 2004In 1984 the world's largest industrial disaster killed 8,000 people over night in Bhopal, India. Two decades later, some sort of closure might seem called for. But today survivors groups continue to struggle for justice, while the chemical industry promotes volunteer initiatives.

Clouds on the Organic Horizonby Carmelo Ruiz-Marrero, Special to CorpWatchNovember 25th, 2004Until a decade ago, organic foods were available only through tiny farmers markets, health and natural food stores, but today their growing popularity means that more organic food is now sold by chain stores like Whole Foods. Often, the food itself is grown on corporate-owned farms, no longer synonymous with small farms, rural communities, social justice and humane treatment of animals.

Sweet and Sourby Jim Lobe, Special to CorpWatchJune 23rd, 2004A new report from Human Rights Watch reveals that American corporations such as Coca-Cola may be getting sugar from plantations in El Salvador that employ child labor.

Barren Justiceby Sasha Lilley, Special to CorpWatchMay 13th, 2004Nicaraguan banana workers have been struggling for compensation from Dole Fruit, Shell, and Dow Chemical for exposure to the pesticide DBCP. The obstacles to justice are many, including the US courts, powerful lobbies, and free trade agreements.

Coke with Yet Another New Twist: Toxic Colaby Amit Srivastava, Special to CorpWatchJanuary 17th, 2004As the World Social Forum opens in Mumbai, India, the spotlight has been turned on Coca-Cola and Pepsi, whose products have been found to be laden with pesticides and insecticides.

An Unreasonable Womanby Helene Vosters, Special to CorpWatchMay 15th, 2003Diane Wilson, a fourth-generation shrimper, is a long time environmental justice activist and adversary to corporate polluters like Union Carbide and Dow Chemical. In the early 1980's after witnessing dolphin die-offs, decreased fish catches, and increased health problems in her home-town of Seadrift, Texas, Wilson discovered that she lived in the most polluted county (Calhoun) in the U.S.

Biotechnology's Third Generationby Carmelo Ruiz-Marrero, Special to CorpWatchApril 5th, 2002From golden rice to anti-viral tomatoes, is the biotech industry's third generation good medicine or good marketing? And, activists ask, what are the environmental consequences?

Seeds of Resistance: Grassroots Activism vs. Biotech Agricultureby Julie Light, Special to CorpWatchMay 25th, 2000SAN RAMON, CA -- About a dozen demonstrators dressed in mock biohazard suits dump food products from Safeway supermarket shelves into a plastic bin in front of the Marriott Hotel in this quiet suburban town East of San Francisco.

Stolen HarvestCorpWatchMarch 17th, 2000Stolen Harvest is the story of how those who labor, those who grow foods, nature and her amazing creatures, are all literally being stolen by tremendously clever mechanisms being put in place by global corporations trying to find new markets.

Pete Wilson (Honorary Baron)Political Ecology GroupMarch 31st, 1997Wilson's support for methyl bromide has certainly helped make him a powerful economic force in the political arena.

Trical Inc.Political Ecology GroupMarch 31st, 1997A largely mysterious entity, TriCal is owned and operated by its President, Dean Storkan. Together with some of his top lieutenants, Roger Hruby, Hank Maze and Tom Duafala, Storkan operates a series of thirteen related corporations in which he has significant, if not controlling financial interests.

Assorted and Sundry BaronsPolitical Ecology GroupMarch 31st, 1997Various other corporations and industry associations participate in the transnational effort to perpetuate the use of the Class I Toxin and Class I ozone depleter, methyl bromide.

Sun-Diamond Growers of CaliforniaPolitical Ecology GroupMarch 31st, 1997The most blatent case of the Bromide Barons attempting to underine the democratic process with their financial influence is that of Sun-Diamond Growers of California. A large agricultural concern that uses methyl bromide to grow young fruit trees and to fumigate stored fruit and nuts.

Methyl Bromide Working GroupPolitical Ecology GroupMarch 31st, 1997Led by the Methyl Bromide Working Group (MBWG) and its chief lobbyist Peter G. Sparber, the Barons of Bromide are working on a number of fronts to undermine the U.S. Clean Air Act and thus to perpetuate the use of methyl bromide indefinitely.

Methyl Bromide Global CoalitionPolitical Ecology GroupMarch 31st, 1997The Methyl Bromide Global Coalition (MBGC) has exerted significant influence on all aspects of the methyl bromide debate, inserting itself as a central player in international scientific panels, diplomatic negotiations and public pronouncements on the issue.

Dead Sea Bromine GroupPolitical Ecology GroupMarch 31st, 1997Dead Sea Bromine produces as much as 30 percent of world output of methyl bromide, which it exports to Europe, Africa, the United States and China. However, very little information is available on this Israeli transnational corporation.

The Bromide BaronsPolitical Ecology GroupMarch 31st, 1997A handful of corporations control the methyl bromide industry. Enter the realm of the Bromide Barons.

Albemarle CorporationPolitical Ecology GroupMarch 31st, 1997Today the Albemarle Corporation is one of the top three producers of methyl bromide in the world. Founded in 1887 to produce blotting papers for fountain pens, Albemarle stayed a paper products company for many years.

Push Back the Poison: Ban Methyl Bromideby Joshua Karliner, CorpWatchMarch 31st, 1997Methyl bromide is a silent killer. Colorless and odorless, it is highly toxic to a wide spectrum of organisms, including human beings. It would be fast on its way out today if it weren't for a small handful of corporations, industry associations and elected officials which have worked stealthily and assiduously to keep this deadly product on the market and in the field.

Farm Workers on the Front LinesCorpWatchMarch 31st, 1997CorpWatch talks with Dolores Huerta of the United Farm Workers about their long history of working to ban dangerous pesticides.